Safety Pays Off

Lucky Me. I always try to use a Push Stick when cutting small jobs. This Weekend I was cutting 3/16” Strips from a 16” 2×4. when I got closer to the end the blade grabbed the pushstick & threw it backwards. Actually my whole arm went backwards, pushstick into the palm of my hand, Pushstick blew into 2 seperate pieces.

I thought for a minute or two that it might have broke my hand, but lucky me no damage as far asa I can tell except a little sore now almost 24hrs later.

Safety always pays, even if it does hurt, Now I have to make me another Pushstick!

Helpful post… if we truly heed the warning.You don’t need cut flesh and blood to sustain a serious injury.Sounds like a featherboard might have helped, or one of those gripper pads that accomodates thin cutting.Still, a push stick seems better than nothin’.Harbor Freight has those long orange plastic sticks on sale at 99 cents right now.

Just like many have seriously joked here on LJ of never finding a tape measure when we need it, and concluded one answer is to have one or two dozen scattered throughout the shop. Well, have enough push sticks on hand all around the TS so there’s no reason not to use them.

(Just noticed above new post. Excellent! There are a number of elegantly simple remedies in the form of sleds like this that have been published down through the years in the various woodworking magazines. We all love shop jigs and fixtures. Why don’t we all promise ourselves (and families) to build one or more shop jigs with safety directly in mind.)

I put the Splitter back on my saw this weekend. when the pushstick got to big to go between the Splitter & the fence – BAM! My pushstick was 3/4” wide solid wood. Fence on the right of the blade – Strip off the left side of the Blade. I have never used a splitter in 30+ years & may never use one again.

When I was in high school drafting the teacher was also the wood shop teacher. Oh yeah, he was also a wrestling coach and one of my football coaches. His name was DeRock and it was fitting.

Our senior year of drafting was building a scaled home with balsa wood. Being the poor school we were one one kit was purchased for four students. So DeRock measured the kit pieces and we went into the shop to cut 3/8” strips on the table saw.

My instructions were to hold the strips as they came out so they didn’t kick back at DeRock. First pass goes through and I’m holding on to this small piece of wood and Zoom! Damn thing fired back and hit him! Thank God the strips were so small and hopefully didn’t hurt. The face he gave me with his wide mustache made me want to run but I know he’d beat me to a pulp.

Jei’son,That sled is pretty much what I use except I screwed a handle to the main part of the sled and use a featherboard to keep the stock on the sled – no push sticks required!And I always use a splitter for ripping when possible.

An alternative method: http://www.mlwwoodworking.com/fed-table-videos.html video #6. This looks like a pretty simple setup for ripping thin strips without needing a fence at all, thus eliminating the kickback/trapping issue. I know this is what I’m going to do if/when I need some thin strips ripped.

Another alternative is a thin rip jig, (places like Rockler sell them), which allow you to rip the strips to the left of the blade so they don’t get trapped between the fence.

-- The difference between being defeated and admitting defeat is what makes all the difference in the world - Upton Sinclair, "The Jungle"